Abridged Life Tables for Registered Indians in Canada, 1976-80 to 1996-2000

Ravi B.P. Verma, Statistics Canada
Margaret Michalowski, Statistics Canada
R. Pierre Gauvin, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Canada

The abridged life tables were constructed using the Chiang method based on the adjusted data on deaths and population by age and sex from the Indian Registry for Canada and two broad regions, east and west, 1976 to 1996-2000. Prior to discussing the construction of life tables, we will address the quality of data from the Indian Registry, discuss the methods for adjusting these data due to late reporting and never reporting of events, compare and analyse the differences in e0 between the Registered Indians and total Canadian population. Given the historically lower socio-economic indicators for Registered Indians, the e0's for Registered Indians over the Canadian population are expected to be much lower. Since there is a greater proportion of Aboriginal population living on reserves in the western region in Canada, one could assume that the mortality levels ( lower e0) would be higher than in the Eastern/Central region.